Home > Meet our Puppy > Past Updates

Crate Training Puppy Information

Looking for puppy training articles? Visit our puppy center

We were fortunate that our breeder opted to shoot for crate training our puppy early. I do believe it has made all the difference in the world. His first night with me, I figured that he would cry, need to go potty, and so forth. I opted to not turn on the alarm and just wait and see how it went. Nitro is a bit older, 10 weeks when we got him so I had my hopes up.

Luckily, we put him in his crate for the night, and he cried. I looked at my watch. Within two minutes, he was quiet and asleep. What a great blessing that was! He slept all the way through and didn't have one problem. Now, when we initially put him in the crate, he fuses and whines...sometimes howls and barks. We just ignore it and he falls asleep or chews on his toys. I'm doing my best to make the crate a positive experience. I put him in when he is sleepy (usually really hyper means sleepy apparently) and give him a few pieces of dog food to reward him for going in. I hang out in the room - I dont always want the crate to mean mom is going away. When he howls, I never even look at him. Overtime I am hopeful this behavior will decrease. If he never gets let out, or looked at, then he will find that it does nothing for him. When he is quiet in there and being nice (not sleeping), I will periodically go over and say hello. Reward the good, ignore the bad at this age!